Bill White on Gay Marriage

Last Updated : Oct 18, 2010

Summary

Mayor White has stated that he supports civil unions, but that he is not supportive of gay marriage. He has stated that the Texas constitution bars same-sex marriage. He voted against a 2005 constitutional amendment to the state constitution barring same-sex marriage.

Position Clarification

After the GOP made an ad based on a statement White made in 2005 in response to a question from Houston’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Political Caucus PAC. According to The Houston Chronicle, White told the GLBT Political Caucus PAC that he planned to vote against Proposition 2, the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Mayor White responded in an emial to the Dallas Voice and stated :

Same-sex marriage is precluded by the Texas constitution. I believe Texas state government has more pressing issues than support or repeal of state constitutional amendments on this subject. My personal position has been the same as was expressed by President Obamain the last campaign (support for civil unions). The GOP statement was inaccurate. I did vote against the state constitutional amendment in protest of wedge issue politics.

KRLD Interview

In a KLRD interview in March of 2010, Mayor White stated that he did not vote for a 2005 measure to define marriage as between one man and one woman and mocked the concept that traditional marriage was threatened.

The most animated part of White's interview with KRLD's Scott Braddock came when he explained why he voted against Prop. 2, the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which Texans passed in 2005.

"It was in the state statutes anyway, and I just see it as sort of a wedge issue," White said. "I think the politicians ought to spend a little bit more time thinking about staying married themselves than [about] who marries whom."

Braddock then asked, "And you are a Sunday school teacher?"

White: "Oh, yeah, and happily married. And my wife, in 25 years, I've never got up in the middle of the night, you know, just hoping the people in Austin would pass a law to prevent my wife from going off and marrying another woman, OK?"

Question on Gay Rights

On his campaign website, Mayor White reproduces a news story where he is asked about gay rights by a student. At the time, Mayor White was campaigning for what he thought would be a vacated Senate seat in 2010. In response to the question, the Mayor says that the country needs to focus on other things.

Asked by a student what his stance on gay rights was, White replied that he was "honored" to be named "Person of the Year" by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization. White said that during a time when there is a global recession, when there are people who can't afford college, and when veterans are returning home without limbs, the government should be less concerned about what he said are private matters.

White said he was once asked why he chose to participate in a gay rights parade in Houston.

"I said, 'I thought it was my job to work for all people,'" White said. "Basically, that's the way I perceive my job."